Art of refining hydrocarbons



Aug. 29, 1933. E, C, HERTHEL.

ART oF REFINING HYDRocARBoNs Filed Nov. 1, 1929 oaaamvaeeeo/ eooaoooeea,@oaaeaaea@ @@eooeoeoe oaooeee ATTORNEYS m 1,285,200, issued November19, 1918, on the ap- Patented Aug. 1933v f Y i .y j r I it I.

UNIT-ED:STATESPATENT OFFICE f ,y 'c .aa'rjor nEFiNING HYDRoCARBoNsEugene C. HertheL'ChicagmIll., assignor to Sinclair- Reflning Company,New York, N. Y., a Y

Vcorporation of Maine Y Y y A` nppiication'November 1, 1929. serial10,403,981- Y 1 claim.. (Cl. 19e- 110) Y v This invention relates toimprovements in apa drum 11,a battery of parallel connected heat-Daratus for cracking hydrocarbonoils in the `ing tubes 12 arranged inthe heating flue 13 of i manufacture of gasoline, for example, in whicha heating furnace', circulating connections 14, higher boiling oil isheated to a cracking'tem- 15`and y16 including a circulating pump 17 andperature 1n a battery of heating tubes connected Y a closure means 18, aline 19 for the discharge '-60 in parallel arranged in a Afire-heatedfurnace. of tar during operation, a line for initially The invention isuseful, for example, in conneccharging the still' and for pumping outthe still tionwith the operationof cracking apparatus at the end of arun, a reiiux tower 21 connected such as that described in LettersPatent No. to the stillproper by means of a vapor line 22 i and a returnline 23 andv provided with a line 65 u plication of Edward W. Isom, No.1,634,666, issuedV 24 for the introduction of raw oil, a condenser July5, 1927, on the application of Harry L. Pelzer 25 connected tothe refluxtower by means of a and myself, `and :No. 1,721,780, issued July 23,vapor line 26 including a valve 27 for maintaining f 1929, on myapplication, to Sinclair Refining .and regulating the pressure in thestill, and a re- COmDany. Y ceiver 28 connected to the condenserby'means 70 In heating furnaces of the generaltype. de'- of lin'e29 andprovided with a line 30 for the scribed in the aforementioned LettersPatent, for discharge of the cracked distillate product and example,operating difculties due to overheating a line Blfor the discharge ofuncondensed vapors localized in some of the heating tubes'of` the batandgases. n l tery are sometimes encountered. This overheat- This pressurestill system illustrated may be 75 ing, when it occurs, is frequentlyconfined to opera-ted, for example, as described in Letters heatingtubesnear the lateral boundaries of the Patent No. 1,598,136, issuedAugust 31, 1926, or path of travel of the heating gases over the heat-rNo.V 1,721,779, issued July 23, 1929, on my appliing tubes; Thisinvention relates particularly to cation, toSinclair Refining Company. jAimprovements in such heating furnaces minimiz- The pump 17 maybe of thetype, `for example, "530v ing any tendency toward this type ofoverheating. described in Letters vPatent No. 1,701,198, issued Varioushypotheses tend to explain this type February 5, ,1929, on theapplication of Thomas of overheating, non-uniformity of oil flow deColon Tiit, to Sinclair Refining Company. through the heating tubes,lack of homogeneity The heating furnace, including lthe heating nue `3`0of the stream of heating gases ilowing over the 13 in the apparatusillustrated, may be provided i535 heating tubes particularly withrespect to temwith means for recirculating through the heating perature,and radiation or reradiation from adjaflue a part of the heating gasesas described in cent walls of the heating furnace, for example. LettersPatent Nos. 1,574,546, and 1,574,547, is But whatever the explanation,or explanations, sued February 23, 1926, on the applications of r of thetype of overheating-may be, I` have found John E. Bell, to SinclairRefining Company, and '90 that any tendency toward this type ofoverheat- With means fOr Dreheatug the air Supplied 101' Ing can beinhibited by restricting the flow of combustion as described in LettersPatent No.= oil entering each of the heating tubes at a point 1,623,773,issued April 5, 1927 Qu the appleatOn adjacent the inlet to each of theheating tubes. of vJohn E. Bell, to Sinclair Refining Company.Y

Inthe improved apparatus of this invention, this In theV apparatus 0fthis invention. referring 2.95.

I restriction is accomplished by orifices arranged particularly t0 Fig.2'y OriCeS 32 are arranged adadjacent to the inlet ends of each of theparalleljacent the inlet ends, lthe lower ends in the apconnectedheating'tubes in the heating furnace. paratus illustrated, 0f each 0fthe heating tubes 12 Two forms of apparatus embodying the invenarrangedinthe heating flue 13 severally restrict- ""4'5 tion are i11ustrated,diagrammatcally and con-` ing the cross-Section 0f each 0f the-heatingtubes yT100 ventionally, in the accompanying drawing, and 12 at thatpoint. These orifices effect a restricthe invention will be furtherdescribed in connection, flXed severally for eachof the parallel-COII-tion therewith. In the accompanying drawing, neeted heating tubes, 0fflOW through the-heati v Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly in section andwith ing tubes and, apparently in thisemanner, in

f5() parts broken away, of a pressure cracking still, hibit overheatinglocalized in heating tubes near 12105 Fig. 2 is a section, onanenlargedscale, on line the lateral boundaries of the heating flue in 2-2 of Fig.1, and Fig. 3 is a section, similar to which the heating tubes arearranged, probably Fig. 2, showing a modification of the apparatus byintroducing a more or less fixed factor deillustrated in Fig. 2.creasing the proportionate effect of variable fac- The pressure stillsystem illustrated comprises tors affecting oil-flow through the severalheating i gases over the heating tubes may advantageously be madesmaller than those near the lateral boundaries of this path, forexample.

In apparatus such as that illustrated in Fig. 3, for example, theheating tubes l2 may be 4 in diameter, the orices 33 in the heatingtubes in rows I and X may be 31/2 in diameter, the orifices 34 in theheating tubes in rows II and IX may be 3 in diameter, and the orifices35 in the heating tubes in rows III to VIII inclusive may be 21/2 indiameter.

I claim:

In apparatus for cracking hydrocarbon oils comprising a battery ofheating tubes connected in parallel arranged in a fire-heated furnace,orices adjacent the inlet ends of each of the heat-- ing tubes formingthe battery severally restrict- -ing the cross-section of each of theheating tubes at that point, said orifices being smaller near the centerof the path of travel of heating gases over the heating tubes than nearthe lateral boundaries of said path.

EUGENE C. HERTHEL.

